Werner Herzog to offer filmmaking classes in L.A.

'Rogue Film School is not for the faint-hearted,' warns director

There’s film school. And then there’s film school the Werner Herzog way.

In typical take-no-prisoners style, Herzog plans to teach guerrilla filmmaking, at a cost of $1,450 for a weekend, Jan. 8-10 in Los Angeles. And he’s quick to caution the faint of heart to stay away from what he’s dubbed the Rogue Film School.

“Censorship will be enforced,” he says. “There will be no talk of shamans, of yoga classes, nutritional values, herbal teas, discovering your Boundaries, and Inner Growth.”

Herzog — whose credits include pics ranging from “Aguirre, Wrath of God” to “Grizzly Man” and the “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans” — warned applicants not to bring their laptops. Instead, he promises to offer insight into such areas as “the exhilaration of being shot at unsuccessfully” and “the neutralization of bureaucracy.”

“The Rogue Film School is not for the faint-hearted; it is for those who have traveled on foot, who have worked as bouncers in sex clubs or as wardens in a lunatic asylum, for those who are willing to learn about lock-picking or forging shooting permits in countries not favoring their projects,” he says. “In short: it is for those who have a sense for poetry. For those who are pilgrims. For those who can tell a story to 4-year-old children and hold their attention. For those who have a fire burning within. For those who have a dream.”

In addition to those passionate insights, participants will receive a signed copy of Herzog’s “Conquest of the Useless.”